Stirring Up Scum

What was once considered an environmental menace and a slimy annoyance is now being touted as a potential treasure. Algae has been identified as a prospective third-generation biofuel and, in the past few years, has caught the attention of many Washington companies hoping to decrease the world's carbon footprint.

But despite successfully fueling a few experimental Boeing flights and drawing a lot of capital (such as Bill Gates' $100 million investment in San Diego-based Sapphire Energy), advocates of pond scum as biofuel have struggled against practical and economic barriers in a stubborn market. Because of these setbacks, some local organizations are capitalizing on a potentially more lucrative use for algaculture: production of renewable chemicals and food flavorings.

Blue Marble Energy CEO and President Kelly Ogilvie (left) and James Stephens, vice president
and chief scientific officer, in the company's Spartan lab space in Seattle's Fremont neighborhood.

Though it may be hard to remember in recent years, the price of petroleum has historically been extremely cheap. Consumers were content to keep filling their tanks with gasoline despite harmful emissions rather than invest in a vehicle that ran on more expensive biofuels.

The cost of crude oil skyrocketed at one point last year to more than $100 per barrel. Fear that oil prices will return to those high levels have made eco-friendly fuels, such as algae-derived oil, a much more compelling long-term option.

"We've seen what the price of oil can do and it's not very reassuring," says Margaret McCormick, general manager of bio-based materials at Seattle bioscience firm Targeted Growth Inc. (TGI). "It's a much easier sell now to invest in technologies that help the biofuel economy, and with algae, we can develop biofuels that fit into the existing biostructure."

Post-Petroleum Options

The evolution of biofuels has been problem-laden. First-generation biodiesel, derived from foodstocks such as corn, palm oil and sugarcane, was criticized for drawing resources away from the food supply and destroying rainforests. Second-generation sources, including woody nonfood materials such as timber waste, offer the potential of higher-quality fuel and less environmental damage, but efforts have been stalled due to the necessity of building a new, expensive infrastructure to harvest and transport the biomass. 

Third-generation biofuel, which is where algae comes in, holds promise because algae consumes carbon dioxide, is plentiful and rapidly renewable, doesn't compete with food supplies for land and can be produced domestically.

Algae naturally produces oil throughout its growth cycle as a result of exposure to sun, CO₂ and nutrients. Some species have more effective or fruitful production than others, so companies

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